Transparency in Liberia

Liberia’s tumultuous recent past all but destroyed the professional civil service in the country and paralysed the government. Despite these formidable challenges, the country has made great strides in becoming more accountable and transparent. This is not to say, however, that the country doesn’t have its fair share of problems – it does. With rich natural resources and a heavy reliance on foreign aid, the opportunities for corruption, nepotism and straightforward theft are huge. Fortunately, the government is trying to address the problem and in 2010 passed a landmark Freedom of Information Act. Civil society, meanwhile, is keen to ensure that both government and foreign corporations are held to account. These were some of the transparency organisations we met while we were in the country during a recent West Africa trip: